How data in work orders can prevent maintenance waste

The situation:

A maintenance manager at a discrete manufacturing plant faces a challenge: He regularly dispatches workers to inspect or fix equipment only to find the machine is within its specified operating range. Frequently, there is poor documentation so he doesn’t know what work has been completed on equipment. And if he does know work was completed, he doesn’t have documentation and measurements to validate that the work was done correctly.

A recent incident, involving a critical drive motor that a line worker has reported as possibly running too hot, illustrates his challenges.

Traditional approach:

Write a paper work order and assign a technician to make a thermal image inspection of the motor.

Technician picks up paper work order and walks to the motor location and takes a thermal image, noting the motor “looks hot.” He returns the work order to the maintenance desk.

Technician walks back through the factory and shows the manager the thermal image, which indicates some degree of elevated radiant energy.

Another work order is written up for further inspection. This time a technician performs an inspection of the three-phase electrical supply and completes a resistance test. Both indicate no problems.

After two work orders and two trips to the motor by different technicians, it is determined that the motor is operating normally.

Since there is no follow-up work, the inspection work orders are thrown away.

The maintenance manager laments the lost time and waste of the inspections. Meanwhile, an impeller on a pump on the other side of the factory goes out, requiring downtime in order to replace.

The shift is about over and so the impeller will need to be fixed by the second shift of technicians

A detailed email will need to be written to explain the situation.

Recommended approach: Create work orders using measurements that are wirelessly transferred from Fluke Connect® tools to Fluke Connect® Assets software

Create work orders that provide technicians with existing measurement data allowing them to fully understand the baseline equipment operation.

Technician checks work orders on his phone and begins inspections using Fluke Ti400 Infrared Camera.

Technician saves and uploads thermal images of the motor inspection. Data is also uploaded of the routine inspections. All team members can check the status of machinery, saved data and work orders on a smartphone or computer from anywhere.

Abnormal conditions are noted, such as the unusually hot location on the suspect motor as well as an issue seen on a pump that correlates to a system stress condition.

Since data indicates the need for troubleshooting the motor and the pump, the system creates a new work order that includes the thermal image or other measurement that shows the problem.

Supervisor requires technician to take a thermal image and other measurements to verify proper service.

All workers on every shift have access to the same data, status updates and work orders using the Fluke Connect platform so information is passed seamlessly without additional communications.

Verify job completion within the work order by uploading data when work complete.

Fluke Connect Assets is compatible with more than 40 Fluke test and measurement tools, including thermal imagers, digital multimeters, clamp meters, hand-held oscilloscopes, vibration meters and more so you can correlate data and make informed maintenance decisions in advance of potential shutdowns.